Digital Commons Network^™

The Constitutively Active Form Of A Key Cholesterol Synthesis Enzyme Is Lipid Droplet-Localized And Upregulated In Endometrial Cancer Tissues, Hudson W Coates, Tina B Nguyen, Ximing Du, Ellen M Olzomer, Rhonda Farrell, Frances L Byrne, Hongyuan Yang, Andrew J Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cholesterol is essential for both normal cell viability and cancer cell proliferation. Aberrant activity of squalene monooxygenase (SM, also known as squalene epoxidase), the rate-limiting enzyme of the committed cholesterol synthesis pathway, is accordingly implicated in a growing list of cancers. We previously reported that hypoxia triggers the truncation of SM to a constitutively active form, thus preserving sterol synthesis during oxygen shortfalls. Here, we show SM truncation is upregulated and correlates with the magnitude of hypoxia in endometrial cancer tissues, supporting the in vivo relevance of our earlier work. To further investigate the pathophysiological consequences of SM truncation, we …

Compliance And Efficacy Of Orthodontic Medicaid In Southern Nevada: A Retrospective Study, Troy Mccartney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objective: The study’s main objective is to evaluate efficacy and compliance in Medicaid orthodontic patients compared to private insurance and cash (self-pay) patients in Southern Nevada. In addition, the paper will study the trends in approval selection such gender, age, race/ethnicity, and case type. This information will be used to discuss the barriers that Medicaid patients face and offer solutions for the issues found in the orthodontic Medicaid system.

Introduction: Medicaid coverage was brought forward by the Federal Social Security Act in July of 1965. Since then, there have been many discussions on how orthodontic treatment should be covered under …

Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad” By Dimitri Shistakovich: A Wind Band Transcription Of The Final Movement With Historical Context And A Description Of The Transcription Process, Scott Patrick Mcglasson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document includes a wind band transcription of the final movement of Dimitri Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 7” known as the Leningrad Symphony. It contains an overview of the composer's life leading up to the creation of this work as well as a description of the historical context during which this work was composed. This document also contains a detailed description of the transcription and editing process that led to the completed work contained at the end of this document. The transcription process included examining other wind band transcriptions of Shostakovich’s music as well as other wind transcriptions of orchestral works.

Effectiveness Of A Virtual Simulation Program As A Novel Approach To Improve Clinical Judgment In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Monica Millard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Problem: Limited clinical placement opportunities for practicing decision-making skills have widened the academic-practice gap. Research shows a disturbing decline in entry-level competency among newly graduated registered nurses. Innovative strategies like virtual patient simulation may foster decision-making skills and prepare prelicensure nursing students for practice. However, research is lacking in examining virtual patient simulation (VPS) as an effective approach for developing clinical judgment in prelicensure nursing students. The American Association for Academic Nursing has determined that clinical judgment is an essential nursing attribute. Moreover, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing developed the Next Generation National Council Licensure Exam based …

The Operatic Innovation And Musical Language Of Rodion Shchedrin's Choral Opera Boyarina Morozova, Valeria Ore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Rodion Shchedrin is an outstanding composer who uses the deep tradition of Russian musical culture in his compositions. Shchedrin’s style is very individual and consists of the universality of world perception and originality of musical language, which encompasses a sensitive assimilation of a new, careful, and respectful approach to Russian traditions. By reasonably and fragmentarily using the elements of dodecaphony, sonorics, and aleatoric music, he developed his own musical language. Thus, the purpose of this work is to explore Shchedrin’s compositional style and to discover his innovation and individual style in the opera Boyarina Morozova. Shchedrin’s compositions are unusual: …

A Sensory Room Protocol For Snf Staff To Improve Confidence With Emotional Regulation In Adults With Cognitive Challenges: Through An Occupational Therapy Perspective, Marisa Pagan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Adult sensory rooms are an emerging area of practice for occupational therapy, as this holistic approach uses sensory tools for input to one or more of the five senses, which promotes emotional regulation in individuals seeking calming and alerting outcomes. This sensory protocol proposal was created to assist healthcare workers within a skilled nursing facility and provide a tool that could be utilized in various settings to increase awareness of adult sensory rooms.

Methodology This quality improvement protocol project was conducted at Henderson Health and Rehabilitation to determine the need for and develop a protocol for an adult sensory room …

Increasing Swim Instructors' Perceived Knowledge Of Sensory-Based Strategies When Coaching Children Who May Have Sensory Differences, Gabrielle Palmer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Although swim instructors are solely taught water safety regulations and correct swimming techniques, they are nonetheless viewed as mentors by the kids they work with. They are required to finish both their basic swim instructor (BSI) course and their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification, which primarily covers the fundamentals (American Red Cross Training Services, 2023; Kraft & Leblanc, 2018). However, neither provides a method of teaching swimming to children who might have sensory processing differences. This lack of education may affect both the child's participation and the swim instructor's capacity to impart knowledge. Research revealed that swim instructors are not very …

Development Of A Health Management Program For International Students And Scholars Using Occupational Therapy Lens, Bo Park

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Health management (HM) is essential to staying healthy. Many parts involve internal abilities, such as the cognitive ability to detect illness internally. However, knowing external sources is equally necessary to perform HM independently, such as knowing how to use health insurance and which healthcare services to use for specific symptoms. As HM is closely related to health and independence, occupational therapy recently expanded the practice by including the occupation of health management.

The International Students and Scholars (ISS) population has been often discouraged from performing parts of HM due to many cultural barriers and differences that exist in HM across …

Dynamical Studies Of Misaligned Circumbinary Disks, Ian C. Rabago

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Binary stars are common outcomes of the star formation process, with nearly half of Sun-like stars forming as part of a binary pair. The presence of a second star adds additional complexity and dynamical effects to the planet formation process in the surrounding circumbinary disk. In this work, I investigate the behavior of a circumbinary disk using hydrodynamic modeling, specifically in the case where the disk is misaligned to the binary orbital plane. Around eccentric binaries, highly inclined disks can align themselves perpendicular to the binary orbital plane. These "polar disks'' can produce vortices and spiral arms when the disk …

Tummy Time Toolkit: Incorporating Social-Emotional Strategies To Increase Caregiver Home Programming Compliance, Marsha Rattler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Tummy time is a crucial developmental activity for infants. However, many infants are not receiving the recommended amount of time in prone positioning. This doctoral capstone project aims to address this gap through the implementation of an occupational therapy (OT) based tummy time educational resource titled Bonding Through Tummy Time: A Caregiver’s Guide. The resource, a tummy time toolkit, focuses on caregiver and infant interaction during the co- occupation of play using social-emotional developmental strategies as a driving force to complete more tummy time in the home environment. Recruitment of caregivers was done through purposive sampling and participants were surveyed …

The Effects Of Nicotine On Growth, Surface Marker Expression, And Osteogenic Capacity Of Stem Cells From Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth (Shed) And Dental Pulp Stem Cells (Dpsc), Kaileen Rodriguez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: The gaining popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and inhaling aerosols (“vaping”) among young people have exposed them to unprecedented amounts of nicotine. Fourth generation ENDS manufacturers attract the adolescent demographic with a smooth vaping experience with enticing flavors such as “Piña Colada” or “Peppermint Blast.” Components of e-liquids in cartridges of ENDS combine protonated nicotine, also referred as nicotine salts, with flavors in a propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin solvent. Unregulated, high amounts of nicotine in ENDS products have been associated with increased levels of nicotine in the circulating blood of users with an average concentration of …

Identifying Disease-Related Gene-Environment Interactions Based On Method Of Moments, Linchuan Shen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Human diseases are often caused by a complex interplay of multiple factors, including genetics and environmental factors. These factors can play critical roles in the development and progression of diseases. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified many genetic variants associated with human diseases, the estimated effects of these variants are small and can explain only a relatively small portion of the heritability of the underlying diseases.

Detecting gene-environment interactions (G × E) can shed light on the biological mechanisms of diseases. However, most existing methods that investigate G × E only look at how one environmental …

Evaluation Of The Extent Of Floods In 2022 In Different Land Cover And Land Use Classes In Sindh Province, Pakistan Using Sentinel-1 And Sentinel-2 Imageries, Alina Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Floods are one of the most frequent and most devastating natural disasters, which cause widespread destruction and pose significant risks to human life, infrastructure, and the environment. Advancement in remote sensing technologies and methodologies have demonstrated their efficacy in disaster-related applications, such as the detection, monitoring, and analysis of floods. This study explores the utilization of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical imagery for flood extent mapping and studying the extent of flood over various land cover and land use classes in Pakistan's Sindh province, utilizing the cloud computing power of Google Earth Engine. The change detection method identified extensive …

The Effects Of A Low-Intensity Aerobic Exercise Program To Enhance Occupational Performance And Quality Of Life In Diabetic Patients, Asia Suriyachottakul

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Globally, diabetes mellitus (DM) is a prevalent chronic condition many people encounter. DM is one of the primary causes of mortality due to individuals struggling to manage or prevent the condition. The healthcare field is also failing to provide sufficient education on DM. Individuals with this condition may begin to experience co-morbidities and depressive symptoms, which make it difficult for them to engage in meaningful occupations, in addition to decreased quality of life (QOL). This project examines the effectiveness of a low-intensity aerobic exercise (LIAE) program to enhance occupational performance (OP) and QOL in those diagnosed with the condition or …

Cellular Mechanisms Of Embryonic Eye Regrowth In Xenopus Laevis, Randolph L. Grell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The African Clawed Frog, Xenopus laevis, has been an indispensable model organism for over 100 years in the study of embryogenesis and development. In recent years, this vertebrate model has emerged as a robust tool for deciphering the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying various modes of tissue, limb, and organ regeneration. In the context of eye repair, Xenopus offers a unique model, where the adult frog eye has limited regenerative capacity compared to its pre-metamorphic embryonic and tadpole forms, which exhibit a robust capacity for regrowth. Understanding the intricate molecular mechanisms that underlie this developmental shift in regrowth ability …

Triplemask Spatial Linear Filter And Neutrosophic Entropy For Video Denoising, Face Detection And Recognition In Forensic Crime Analysis Using Deep Learning, Anita Sigamani, Prema Selvaraj

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

Forensic Science is the application of Scientific methods to resolve crime and legal issues. It involves various disciplines, such as Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry and Anthropology. Forensic scientists examine and analyze evidence from crime scenes, such as fingerprints, DNA, blood, or weapons. Digital proof is one of the forms of forensic evidence. It provide real time eye witness of the incident. Video recordings enable investigators to find out what exactly has transpired. Investigators use video evidence as a source for witness statements, and it aids in the search for the missing person or suspect. Video evidence is also used to …

Critical Path Method & Project Evaluation And Review Technique: A Neutrosophic Review, Navya Pratyusha M, Arindam Dey, Said Broumi, Ranjan Kumar

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

Fuzzy, intuitionistic, and neutrosophic sets are the primary focus of the review investigation under the extension concepts. The significance and use of triangular shape for data representation are investigated. For modelling and expressing ambiguous or complex data, the triangle shape is a useful tool due to its simplicity and computational efficiency. Further study involves the tool of the operations research technique i.e., Network Analysis that helps in implementing and developing using the fuzzy extension principle. Critical Path Method (CPM) & Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) plays a major part in the field of network in various decision-making scenarios using …

Interdisciplinary Education On Using The Combilizer For Grooming Tasks In The Intensive Care Unit, Bonnie Lei

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide a teaching and learning program to the interdisciplinary team on how to use the Sara Combilizer with critically ill patients to increase efficacy for early progressive mobility (EPM) by facilitating grooming tasks. Methods: A teaching and learning program on using the Sara Combilizer to facilitate grooming tasks was provided to the acute care therapy team at a hospital. The program included an evidence-based lecture, a practice case study, and a digital instructional manual. The program was evaluated through a pre- and post-survey, and a quality improvement survey. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test …

Introduction Of The Anatomy Academy Program To Children In A Rural Elementary School, Rox Aurelio, Madison Dobbs, Nicole Horn, Gianni Terrana

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children in rural communities experience health and education disparities. Early exposure to health promoting habits can positively impact future health habits. Healthcare providers who grew up in rural areas are more likely to practice in rural areas. Doctor of physical therapy students and physical therapists implemented Anatomy Academy, a service-learning program aimed at promoting healthy living and introducing healthcare occupations, to elementary students in a rural area as this program had previously only been implemented in urban areas. The Biomedical Institutional Review Board at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas approved this study. A 40-minute lesson was delivered weekly for …

Implementation Of Evidence-Based Practices To Improve Treatment For Patients With Neck Pain: A Pilot Study, Kristine David, Sarah Kaderka, Christoffer-Judd Villarias

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Purpose: To determine physical therapists’ barriers to implementation and subsequent maintenance of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for treating neck pain from the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) neck pain Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) over the course of six months.

Materials and Methods: Participating physical therapists were trained on the EBPs of treating neck pain through a live 90-minute webinar followed by a hands-on, in-person 90-minute session. Clinics were supplied with all necessary equipment and reference guides. Assessment of participant maintenance to neck pain EBPs included data collection from a baseline Knowledge Check survey prior to educational sessions, an Implementation survey at …

Study Of Plan Of The Day Adaptive Radiation Therapy Validity, Zane W. Burnett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Radiation therapy is the use of radiation sources or generators to treat patients. The most common usage is in the treatment of cancers. Adaptive radiation therapy (ART) is the use of either multiple radiation therapy plans or adjusting a radiation therapy plan for daily anatomical changes. Soft tissue in the lower abdomen and pelvis can be greatly displaced depending on a variety of factors, especially bladder and rectum fill. This paper focuses on the creation of multiple plans prior to treatment to have options each day. Depending on the alignment and anatomical changes, clinicians can choose which one is most …

The Intrinsic Substrate Specificity Of The Human Tyrosine Kinome, Tomer M Yaron-Barir, Brian A Joughin, Emily M Huntsman, Alexander Kerelsky, Daniel M Cizin, Benjamin M Cohen, Amit Regev, Junho Song, Neil Vasan, Ting-Yu Lin, Jose M Orozco, Christina Schoenherr, Cari Sagum, Mark T Bedford, R Max Wynn, Shih-Chia Tso, David T Chuang, Lei Li, Shawn S-C Li, Pau Creixell, Konstantin Krismer, Mina Takegami, Harin Lee, Bin Zhang, Jingyi Lu, Ian Cossentino, Sean D Landry, Mohamed Uduman, John Blenis, Olivier Elemento, Margaret C Frame, Peter V Hornbeck, Lewis C Cantley, Benjamin E Turk, Michael B Yaffe, Jared L Johnson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Phosphorylation of proteins on tyrosine (Tyr) residues evolved in metazoan organisms as a mechanism of coordinating tissue growth1. Multicellular eukaryotes typically have more than 50 distinct protein Tyr kinases that catalyse the phosphorylation of thousands of Tyr residues throughout the proteome1-3. How a given Tyr kinase can phosphorylate a specific subset of proteins at unique Tyr sites is only partially understood4-7. Here we used combinatorial peptide arrays to profile the substrate sequence specificity of all human Tyr kinases. Globally, the Tyr kinases demonstrate considerable diversity in optimal patterns of residues surrounding the site of phosphorylation, revealing the functional organization of …

Enhanced Ctla-4 Blockade Anti-Tumor Immunity With Apg-157 Combination In A Murine Head And Neck Cancer, Daniel Sanghoon Shin, Saroj Basak, Mysore S Veena, Begoña Comin-Anduix, Arjun Bhattacharya, Tien S Dong, Albert Ko, Philip Han, Jonathan Jacobs, Neda A Moatamed, Luis Avila, Matteo Pellegrini, Marilene Wang, Eri S Srivatsan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: A phase I clinical study for patients with locally advanced H&N cancer with a new class of botanical drug APG-157 provided hints of potential synergy with immunotherapy. We sought to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of APG-157 and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

METHODS: CCL23, UM-SCC1 (human), and SCCVII (HPV-), MEER (HPV+) (murine) H&N cancer cell lines were utilized for in vitro and in vivo studies. We measured tumor growth by treating the mice with APG-157, anti-PD-1, and anti-CTLA-4 antibody combinations (8 groups). The tumor microenvironments were assessed by multi-color flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and RNA-seq analysis. Fecal microbiome was analyzed …

Modified Meerkat Clan Algorithm For Association Rules Mining, Mohamad Ab. Saleh, Ahmed T. Sadiq

Baghdad Science Journal

Association Rules Mining (ARM) forms one of the important data mining techniques. The classical methods that were previously worked on by researchers have become ineffective to deal with the steady growth of databases, which prompted us to use the mining process for association rules based on metahuristic, and in our work all the correct rules will extracted, and mining is not limited to high-quality rules. Swarm intelligence based is one of these methods. In this paper, Modified Meerkat Clan for Association Rules Mining (MCC-ARM) has been proposed. Basically, the proposed algorithm depends on Meerkat Clan Algorithm (MCA). The greatest benefit …

Designing And Implementing A Portable Ultrasound Bone Densitometer, Saleh Massoud, Mohammad Ruqiah, Ebrahim Ismaiel, Ahmad S. Ahmad, Fadi Motawej

Baghdad Science Journal

Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by a low bone mass that increases the risk of fracture. The dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone densitometer is considered as the gold standard to measure bone mineral density (BMD). In Syria, the DXA is costly, not widely available and coupled with a strong reluctance among patients concerning exposure to ionizing radiation. On the other hand, several recent studies found that Quantitative Ultrasound (QUS) is useful in diagnosing osteoporosis and giving accurate information about the qualities of bone. This study aims to design and implement a portable ultrasound bone densitometry to measure BMD. The …

A Comparative Analysis Of Machine Learning Algorithms For Classification Of Diabetes Utilizing Confusion Matrix Analysis, Maad M. Mijwil, Mohammad Aljanabi

Baghdad Science Journal

Healthcare experts have been employing machine learning more and more in recent years to enhance patient outcomes and reduce costs. In addition, machine learning has been applied in various areas, including disease diagnosis, patient risk classification, customized treatment suggestions, and drug development. Machine learning algorithms can scrutinize vast quantities of data from electronic health records, medical images, and other sources to identify patterns and make predictions, which can support healthcare professionals and experts in making better-informed decisions, enhancing patient care, and determining a patient's health status. In this regard, the author opted to compare the performance of three algorithms (logistic …

Big Capital & The Carceral State, Laura I. Appleman

UC Law Journal

Who is accountable for the imposition of punishment in our carceral system? The answer used to be much simpler, as we held local, state, and federal government actors responsible. In recent decades, however, our correctional system has become increasingly privatized, with deeply troubling results. All aspects of the carceral state—whether prisons, jails, juvenile detention, rehabilitation, forensic hospitals, bail, or electronic monitoring—have dramatically increased their use of privatized correctional services.

With this new world of privatized corrections, we frequently don’t know whom can be held accountable when wrongdoing occurs. The bulk of our correctional services are now provided by complicated web …

A Review Of Training For First Responders When Interacting With Individuals With Diagnoses, Mackenzie Drost, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Safety is a priority for first responders when responding to calls, but there have been numerous cases in which unintentional harm was caused when interacting with individuals with diagnoses or disabilities. Thus, it seems as though effective training procedures for these professionals is critical. However, training for first responders varies from state to state and can depend on the county in which the services are provided. Although behavioral skills training (BST) has a well-established history of training non behavior-analytic professionals and although there have been some encouraging recommendations for the effective dissemination of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to those outside …

A Comparison Of Shaping And Imitation For Reducing A Dog’S Problem Behavior, Carlee Weir, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Over one million dogs have entered shelters in 2024 alone with approximately 31% of those dogs being relinquished by their owners (Shelter Animal Count, 2024). Further, non-aggressive behavioral issues are often cited as a primary cause for owner relinquishment (Best Friends Network Partners, 2018; Howard & DiGennaro Reed, 2014). Previous research has shown the effectiveness of training methods based on positive reinforcement to reduce problematic behavior with dogs and to increase desirable behavior, such as shaping and clicker training, and there has been a growing interest in the use of imitation during training. Fugazza and Miklosi (2015) compared a shaping …

A Preliminary Analysis Of Functional Communication Training Via Voice-Recorded Buttons To Reduce Undesirable Behaviors With Dogs, Mya Watson-Blake, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Undesirable behavior, such as excessive barking, jumping up, and biting, is prevalent among pet dogs with an estimate of 72%-85% of dogs exhibiting at least one type of undesirable behavior (Dinwoodie et al., 2019; Powell et al., 2021; Salonen et al., 2020). Further, canine undesirable behavior has been found to be the leading cause of owners relinquishing their dogs to rescue shelters (Powdrill-Wells et al., 2021). Functional communication training (FCT) is a method that has shown to be effective with human populations for reducing challenging behaviors by teaching an individual an alternative response that results in the same class of …